The Internet’s Mid-Life Crisis
From blockchain to RELX to Nature, the unwinding of techno-utopianism is touching our world, too
Key limitations of techno-utopianism are being laid bare in a rapid succession of events that seems in total like a collective mid-life crisis for Silicon Valley elites.
As part of the existential angst seizing the one-time wunderkinds, intellectual property laws are delivering consequences for bad behavior, trusted intermediaries are being beckoned spontaneously, and the surveillance economy is no longer able to reach the heights it once did.
In other words, there are cries for help.
It’s worth reviewing a few recent events, and examining how they are entangling scholarly and scientific publishing — from RELX to Nature to shadow libraries.